unbalanced front tires?

[robi-wan]

Alright, so I have some unfortunate news. While returning home today, taking a left turn, my front passenger tire went flat and not expecting such an occurrence---my car drifted towards the right and the tire hit the curb pretty hard and got on top of it.

Well, after this I was only a few blocks from my house. I pulled over to check out the damage and I noticed the flat tire. Anyway, after much swearing I jacked up the car and replaced the tire with the spare in the trunk. Before removing the tire I noticed that compared to the driver's side wheel, the passenger side wheel seemed to lean outwards a little more at the top (naturally, I didn't have this problem before). I more or less hoped this was an allusion due to the lack of air pressure...however, when situating the spare the exact same problem was present. I tried driving around the neighborhood going no faster than 30mph and the car seemed to drive completely fine, except for the fact that it turns towards the right while driving...to go straight I actually had to turn the wheel over to the left some.

Anyways, I will be bringing the car to local shop and wanted to get any ideas to what exactly the problem is. I'm not too fluent on this side of automotive technology unfortunately so I figured it would be a good idea to be informed before opening my wallet.

Any input is appreciated, thank you.

--Andrew

[SunnySolara]

It sounds like you knocked the wheels out of alignment.

[sunrise_solara]

^Exactly. Also, be sure that the mechanic checks the toe-in because it was more than likely also screwed up if the wheel/tire is tucking in at the bottom. Get it solved because it will tear hell out of the tires...

David

[robi-wan]

Alright, well I was told that the lower control arm is bent as well as the McPherson strut is to be replaced (the strut being in pairs, so the front two tires). The mechanic also mentioned that the "spindle" could be bent, but he doesn't think it is...won't know until he starts taking things apart.

Parts (including 2 front tires) + labor equals about 1,000 dollars...

Here's to just hitting 76,000 miles.

[SunnySolara]

Sorry to hear that. How much do the tires cost?

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

It sounds like you knocked the wheels out of alignment.

alighment issues (most likely) including toe wouldn't be soo obvious when looking at it at a stopped car. Unless your toe was WAY off.. I'm guessing him hitting the curb..did bent the lower control arm like he indicated. Replace the struts assembly in pairs. 1000! WOV! i'd assume all that+new struts+alignment would have been close to 800 at the most.

[Ford_Fixorrepairdaily]

go visit the junkyard dude, save yourself a load of cash.